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Creating a SmartOS Bootable USB Key

Before you begin, download the image.

macOS

1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
2. Find the USB key's disk identifier.

   $ diskutil list
   /dev/disk0
      #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE IDENTIFIER
      0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
      1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
      2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.8 GB   disk0s2
   /dev/disk2
      #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE IDENTIFIER
      0:     Apple_partition_scheme                        *998.1 GB   disk2
      1:        Apple_partition_map                          32.3 KB   disk2s1
      2:                 Apple_HFSX Time Machine Backups    998.1 GB   disk2s2
   /dev/disk3
      #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE IDENTIFIER
      0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *4.0   GB   disk3
      1:             Windows_FAT_32 NONAME                  995.2 MB   disk3s1
   

In this case, the USB key disk identifier /dev/disk3. It's likely that your device location will be different.

1. Unmount the USB key and copy the image to it. Use /dev/rdiskX instead of /dev/diskX with the dd command to speed the transfer. Be sure to double check the disk identifier. The ddcommand will destroy any existing data on the target disk.

   diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk3
   gunzip smartos-latest-USB.img.gz
   sudo dd bs=1m if=smartos-latest-USB.img of=/dev/rdiskX
   

2. Eject the volume

   diskutil eject /dev/disk3
   

Linux

1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
2. Find the USB key's disk identifier.

   $ fdisk -l
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0x7ecb51e2
   
      Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
   /dev/sda1   *           1          52      409600   27  Unknown
   Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
   /dev/sda2              52       18959   151870464    7  HPFS/NTFS
   /dev/sda3           18959       30432    92158977    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
   /dev/sda4           30432       60802   243944472    7  HPFS/NTFS
   /dev/sda5           18959       30432    92158976   83  Linux
   
   Disk /dev/sdb: 7958 MB, 7958691840 bytes
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 967 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0x00000000
   
      Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
   /dev/sdb1               1         243     1951866    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)
   

In this case, the USB key disk identifier /dev/sdb. It's likely that your device location will be different.

1. Copy the image to the USB key. Be sure to double check the disk identifier. The dd command will destroy any existing data on the target disk.

   gunzip smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img.gz
   dd if=smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img of=/dev/sdb bs=1024
   

Windows

1. Install Zip Utility. Joyent provides compressed images in the GZIP file format. 7-Zip is a free open source utility that supports .gz files on Windows.
2. Install Disk Imaging Utility. The open-source utility win32diskimager from the Ubuntu project will safely and properly burn the .img file.
3. Unzip the .gz file. Use 7-Zip to extract the .img file from the .gz file.
4. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
5. Burn the .img file. Use win32diskimager to burn the .img file to the USB key.

OpenIndiana

1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.

2. Find the USB key's disk identifier.

   $ rmformat
   Looking for devices...
        1. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c2t0d0p0
           Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci-ide@1f,1/ide@0/sd@0,0
           Connected Device: QSI      DVD-RAM SDW-086  ES71
           Device Type: CD Reader
       Bus: IDE
       Size: <Unknown>
       Label: <Unknown>
       Access permissions: <Unknown>
        2. Logical Node: /dev/rdsk/c6t0d0p0
           Physical Node: /pci@0,0/pci104d,8212@1d,7/storage@3/disk@0,0
           Connected Device: Kingston DataTravelerMini PMAP
           Device Type: Removable
       Bus: USB
       Size: 984.0 MB
       Label: USBKEY
       Access permissions: Medium is not write protected.
   

   In this case, the USB key disk identifier /dev/rdsk/c6t0d0p0. It's likely that your device location will be different.

3. Unmount the USB (if necessary) key and copy the image to it. Be sure to double check the disk identifier. The dd command will destroy any existing data on the target disk.

   umount /media/USBKEY
   gunzip smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img.gz
   dd if=smartos-$RELEASE-usb.img of=/dev/rdsk/c6t0d0p0 bs=1024k
   

FreeBSD

1. Insert your USB key. All data on the USB key will be replaced.
2. Find the USB key's disk identifier using gpart.

   # gpart list
   Geom name: ada0
   modified: false
   state: OK
   fwheads: 16
   fwsectors: 63
   last: 468862087
   first: 40
   entries: 152
   scheme: GPT
   Providers:
   1. Name: ada0p1
      Mediasize: 209715200 (200M)
      Sectorsize: 512
      Stripesize: 4096
      Stripeoffset: 0
      Mode: r0w0e0
      efimedia: HD(1,GPT,abb52720-44c0-11ea-a4dc-0025902dffd4,0x28,0x64000)
      rawuuid: abb52720-44c0-11ea-a4dc-0025902dffd4
      rawtype: c12a7328-f81f-11d2-ba4b-00a0c93ec93b
      label: efiboot0
      length: 209715200
      offset: 20480
      type: efi
      index: 1
      end: 409639
      start: 40
   2. Name: ada0p2
   
   ... skipping
   
   Geom name: da0
   modified: false
   state: OK
   fwheads: 255
   fwsectors: 63
   last: 15248831
   first: 63
   entries: 4
   scheme: MBR
   Providers:
   1. Name: da0s1
      Mediasize: 1999564800 (1.9G)
      Sectorsize: 512
      Stripesize: 0
      Stripeoffset: 307200
      Mode: r1w1e2
      efimedia: HD(1,MBR,00000000,0x258,0x3b9778)
      attrib: active
      rawtype: 12
      length: 1999564800
      offset: 307200
      type: fat32lba
      index: 1
      end: 3905999
      start: 600
   Consumers:
   1. Name: da0
      Mediasize: 7807401984 (7.3G)
      Sectorsize: 512
      Mode: r1w1e3
   

The USB device da0 is our target. In our case it already had a partition. Don't mount the stick. Copy img file using dd (may need root depending on your setup):

    # dd if=smartos-latest-USB.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1024

And then...

Stick the USB key in a port and boot from it!